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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Random Hacks of Kindness: How hackers can save the world

Sound interesting? Here's how you can become a part of it: Attend the Random Hacks of Kindness Hackathon and develop software that saves lives, alleviates suffering and helps communities to recover after natural disasters strike.

Random Hacks of Kindness is a joint effort founded by Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, NASA and The World Bank, dedicated to bringing software developers together to respond to challenges facing humanity in the area of natural disaster risk. We start with problem definitions created through consultations with NGOs, governments and experts in the field from around the world, then we invite hackers to a come together to organize and go to work putting their skills to use to solve those problems with software solutions that make a difference on the ground. At a RHoK hackathon, new technologies are born, existing platforms are built upon, and innovative new ideas attract attention and support. At the close of the hackathon, teams present the technologies they have developed and prizes are awarded.

The next Random Hacks of Kindness Hackathon is happening in Washington, D.C. from June 4th through 6th, with global satellite events going on around the world in Jakarta, Sydney, Nairobi and Sao Paolo. The evening of June 4th, The State Department is hosting a reception for RHoK to kick off two days of intensive hacking on June 5th and 6th at the Microsoft Offices in Chevy Chase, MD. Check out the full agenda or learn more about the global satellites right here.

Why Do This?

Save the world: You have the skills to make a difference. Hacks developed at the last RHoK hackathon were used on the ground in Haiti and Chile following the devastating earthquakes there in early 2010. The world needs these solutions.

Exposure: Got a new product, idea or technology to share with the hacker community? Put it to work at the hackathon.

Assistance: Extend the function and applicability of your existing products or software through global crowdsourced development.

Input: Get real-time feedback from Subject Matter Experts in software and disaster risk.

Insight: Learn about what other companies and developers are doing in the same space.

2 comments:

would it be possible to work with you to make a re skinned version of other existing software so we can help the public to solveothersocial issues (Ideally using that http://www.TRAIDmark.org businessstructure)? Maybe working with someone likehttp://www.ONEworldHEALTH.org or http://www.earth.org whichis closing so maybe this is something I could help you take on so everyone can share local knowledge? Also can http://www.WEBiversity.orgshare video's and create http://www.TRUSTlibrary.org with your team? Ed http://www.WHYmandesign.com